The Sun and its educational spectrum

TL;DR

This paper advocates for using the Sun as a pedagogical tool across all education levels, promoting informal projects that enhance science learning and engagement.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of the solar educational spectrum and shares practical experiences of using the Sun in informal science education in Colombia.

Findings

The Sun can serve as an effective educational resource at all levels.

Informal projects based on the Sun enhance science engagement.

Practical implementation in Colombia demonstrates successful educational strategies.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to encourage science educators and outreach groups to look appropriately at the Sun and consider it as an extraordinary pedagogical tool to teach science at all education stages, what we call here as the solar educational spectrum, i.e., from K-12 to higher education, to develop informal educational projects that may lead to reach more complex material and to enlarge the experience at each stage. We review the main aspects of the Sun as an appetizer of the endless source of ideas to perform informal educational projects outside of a structured curriculum. We end up our discussion by sharing our experience across the educational spectrum in Colombia and how we used it as a development instrument.